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From Red to Blue: A Xweetok's Story


by almightynyx

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      It was a dark, quiet night. Schyff, a Magma Hissi, was curled up in bed just beginning to fall into a deep sleep when suddenly, he heard a bump, then another bump and a sudden crash indicating something had fallen over. The next few moments were a dead silence before some sort of spastic scurrying outside his bedroom.

      Schyff sat up, squinting into the darkness and growing more and more nervous from the sounds. Suddenly, silence again. Seconds ticked by, then it seemed like minutes, before he was satisfied that there was nothing there any longer and lied back down to go to sleep.

      Creeeeeaaak

      Head popping up again, he noted that his door opened a little. Perhaps a breeze through a window left open? Or… He took a quick look around. “What if it’s the Shadow Usul?” Schyff thought, beginning to shake. His heart began to pound, he was almost growing frantic. He lunged to turn on his lamp, almost falling out of bed in the process. Although, upon flicking his lamp on, the face of a grinning red Xweetok was illuminated. In surprise, Schyff jumped back, falling off the other side of the bed. Slowly, he rose to look over the edge, and grumpily glared at the ever-grinning Xweetok.

      “Shouldn’t you be sleeping, Yottir?” Schyff mumbled as the rest of his blankets slid off the bed to join him on the floor. With an annoyed sigh, he rose to remake his bed.

      “You are never going to believe this,” Yottir said, barely able to contain his excitement.

      Rolling his eyes, he gave Yottir his full attention once his blanket was back in place. “What is it this time? And this had better be good.”

      “Mom. She… She…” the red Xweetok’s grin was getting bigger and bigger. “SHE GOT A LAB RAY!”

      “WHAT?! Why would that be something to be excited about?! She could zap either one of us! I don’t know about you, but I like being a Hissi!” Schyff protested. This was probably scarier than just a few minutes earlier when he thought the Shadow Usul had come into his room. His heart was pounding much faster, at least.

      “Of course you like being a Hissi. Chances are, she’s going to adopt some poor sod from the pound and start zapping them,” the Xweetok said, looking at his paws as though he had not a worry.

      “Yottir,” Schyff said, raising an eyebrow. Yottir promptly looked up with a “Yes?”

      “She adopted YOU from the pound.”

      Yottir’s expression went blank for a moment before he shook such thoughts from his head. “Yeah, she adopted me from the pound. BEFORE she got the lab ray! She’s not going to zap me. Come on, let’s just go check this thing out already!”

      “Can’t it wait until morning?”

      “NOPE! Mom will be up in the morning.”

      “Ugh, fine,” Schyff gave in, rubbing his eyes.

     

~*~

      The two Neopets got to the entrance of the Secret Laboratory. Nervously, they glanced to each other before the door was swung open by a crazed-looking Scorchio on the other side. For a long time, Schyff and Yottir stared at the Scorchio, but couldn’t fully tell if he was staring back.

      “WELCOME!” the scientist finally said. “You have found the secret laboratory!” his statement trailed off into a maniacal laughter that sent chills running up their spines.

      “Yeah, nice to see it. We’ll just… Uhh, be off now,” Schyff said, grabbing Yottir by the arm and turning around.

      “Nonsense! You need a better look than this. Come in, come in,” the scientist said with either a cackle.

      Schyff stared at the Scorchio again before taking a moment to mumble, “This guy’s a lunatic.”

      “Sure, why not?” Yottir said, completely disregarding the Hissi’s worrying. The Xweetok walked right on in and, with a slump in defeat, Schyff followed.

      “I’ve been working on some experiments in my free time,” the scientist began.

      “Which I’m sure you have a lot of,” Schyff mumbled to himself.

      “And I’ve come up with something with fantastic results!” The Scientist cackled again.

      “And equally dangerous, I’m sure,” Schyff continued on with his quiet protesting.

      “You see, this experiment is capable of giving super powers! Err, some of the time.”

      “You know, when it doesn’t turn you into a pile of sludge.”

      “But other times it can change your colour!”

      “Or species.”

      The scientist was catching on to Schyff’s negativity now, and shot a glare in his direction. “I’ll have you know that my lab ray is perfectly safe!” The Scorchio was flailing his arms about for emphasis while he spoke.

      “Safe, if you’re not the one being fired at,” Schyff retorted.

      “Oh really, now? It only occasionally hiccups! Sometimes it doesn’t even do anything!” the scientist was growing impatient. Yottir was looking between the two Neopets uncomfortably.

      “Hiccups! Of course. You must mean when Neopets get turned into food. Or clay. Or SPONGES. Your ray has turned Neopets into household cleaning tools! Why get a sponge to clean your dishes when you’ve got a sponge Koi to do it for you?!”

      “You can’t say some owners haven’t been thankful. Finally got some lazy Neopets doing some chores around their Neohomes.”

      The Magma Hissi visibly began to sizzle and bubble as he grew angrier. “How about I zap you with the ray and see just how well it works?!”

      “OKAY, COME ON, YOU GUYS!” Yottir finally shouted out. “Schyff you’re overreacting,” he said at a normal tone of voice. “I’m sure it’s safe. At least to an extent.”

      “Then this scientist here should have no problem being the subject of his own experiment,” Schyff argued.

      “It appears you’ve never heard the saying, ‘Don’t be the subject of your own experiments.’ You never know, I could be turned into a Mortog! Then who would finish and perfect my invention?”

      Schyff stared at the Scorchio for a long moment before speaking. “First of all I think you’re making that saying up, and second, you literally just admitted your lack of confidence!”

      “FINE. You know what, you two?! Just test it on me!” Yottir shouted over them. His tail was flicking from side to side in agitation.

      “Yottir you don’t want to—“

      “BUT OF COURSE!” the Scorchio rang out, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. “Just step right on to that circular plate and I’ll get it ready for you.” He began to cackle again.

      Yottir frowned and confidently walked over and onto the plate indicated. He folded his arms and waited patiently for what was to come.

      “Yottir get down from there! You don’t know what it’s going to do!” Schyff said, clearly beginning to worry.

      “What’s the worst that could happen? I might lose a couple of defense points. Oooo, so scary,” Yottir mocked, his own frustrations from the arguing coming through. “Besides, if it will get you two to shut up it will be worth it.”

      “All ready to go, BRACE YOURSELF, YOUNG XWEETOK!”

      Yottir looked up, just in time to see the ray being aimed at him, and the scientist jumping into the air to pull the lever down in a terrific excitement. His insane, maniacal laughter rang through the Laboratory as the switch went down.

      Suddenly, a huge, blinding flash of light filled the room. Schyff covered his eyes while the scientist, clearly unaffected, continued his psychotic laughter.

      “Yottir? Yottir are you okay?!” Schyff called out. But at first, only silence followed.

      “I think so,” he heard Yottir reply. But when the light cleared, Schyff couldn’t help but stare in utter shock. Then, he began to laugh hysterically.

      “What’s so funny?” Yottir asked, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. “I don’t feel so good.”

      Schyff only continued to laugh. And laugh. The scientist merely jotted down a bunch of scribbles and notes onto a clipboard. Eventually, Yottir tried to figure out what was so funny.

      “Is there something on my face? Or—“ he looked down. If his face could have gone whiter, it would have. He looked to his tail, and put his paws to the top of his head. His heart began to pound in fear and embarrassment. “Are you KIDDING me?!”

      Yottir, the once red Xweetok, had been zapped into a blue Cybunny. “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.” He pulled down on his long hears. “SCHYFF. TELL ME THIS ISN’T HAPPENING,” he pleaded.

      “I could tell you it’s not happening, but I would be lying.”

      “ZAP ME BACK! I CAN’T BE A CYBUNNY! SCIENTIST!”

      The Scorchio looked up at the blue Cybunny nonchalantly. “I’m sorry, you can only use the ray once a day. And even if I could zap you again, the chances of it zapping you back to a red Xweetok again are… Well, next to none,” he explained, clearly unaffected by his reaction.

      Yottir let out an exasperated yell that almost sounded like a battle cry.

      “It’s okay, Yottir. We can get out of this,” Schyff said, walking up and taking Yottir’s arm to lead him down.

      “We can?” Yottir asked hopefully.

      “Of course we can. And I’ll help you on one condition.”

      Nervously, Yottir gulped. “What’s the condition?”

      “You stop making fun of Fluffy,” Schyff said, giving Yottir a very serious look.

      “Fluffy? Your stupid Uni plushie? Are you kidding me?”

      “Is that a no? That’s alright. You can stay a Cybunny. After all, it might be a pleasant surprise for Mom,” Schyff said with a sly grin.

      “FINE. I will not make fun of Fluffy,” Yottir groaned. “Just help me out.”

      “Perfect! So what we’ll need is a morphing potion. Maybe a red one,” he went on, leading Yottir out of the lab. “Xweetok ones should be cheap since, well, no one really likes your species.”

      “HEY!”

      “I’m kidding. I’m kidding. But we should be able to get one at the marketplace. Come on,” Schyff said with confidence.

     

~*~

      “You want what for a red Xweetok morphing potion?” Schyff asked the shop keeper.

      “45,000 NP, if you please,” the shop keeper responded. Schyff gulped. Almost all the neopoints had been spent on the Lab, and Nyx was sure to notice if a chunk of neopoints like that had gone missing. In the meantime, Yottir was getting overly anxious and had nearly knocked a few things over as he paced about.

      “A-and, you said the blue one was?” the Hissi asked hopefully.

      “3,500 NP,” the shop keeper responded, clearly judging Schyff for being a cheapskate. “What do you even need this for?”

      “Sir, I am a Hissi with a dream of one day becoming a red or blue Xweetok, if you must know,” Schyff responded, placing the NP down on the counter and taking the blue Xweetok morphing potion. “Thank you, and good day. My dreams are finally coming true.”

      The shop keeper merely shook his head as he watched the two Neopets walk out the door. “What idiots,” he mumbled.

      As they began their trek home, Schyff pulled out the morphing potion and offered it to Yottir.

      “BLUE?! Schyff, I was red! Mom is bound to notice this!”

      “The red one was over ten times the price of this one, Yottir. So unless you want to be a Cybunny for next Easter…”

      Yottir snatched the morphing potion, popped it open and chugged it down. For a few moments nothing happened until, finally, his limbs began to change shape, and soon the rest of him. Within less than a minute, he was a Xweetok again! Though, a blue one.

      “It would be nice if Mom was colour-blind,” Yottir stated.

      “You just remember, this was your fault, not mine,” Schyff stated, and they began walking back in the direction of home in the dead of night.

      “And no more making fun of Fluffy.”

      The End.

 
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